It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and revolutionized online publishing and web content management. Now, it’s becoming harder to tell blogs and websites apart. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of website design and also being able to tell what type of web application is actually powering the site.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS tool like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the things that matter to most website owners, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of these options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting site ”A” above built.
If you chose site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an attractive, professional-looking and fully functional website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful content management system suitable for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no technical skills to use, and offers many helpful extensions that make your web site more effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your website is also powered by WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to show your web developer an existing website with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built to a smaller budget if required?
Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WP-Checking Tools
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard wonderful things about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other content management system.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are running on WordPress:
Look At The Page Source Code
If you know how to access the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for a telltale footprint …
(Viewing your web page source code in the Firefox web browser)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you come across a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the page’s source code, you can search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to see the words “wp-content” in the page source code, it does not necessarily mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this article is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier methods you can use to check if your site is powered by WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, a number of web development agencies, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you’re not sure what application is driving it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if it was built with WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing online and you would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the web them template has not been edited, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that will tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(Is It WordPress?)
Is It WP is a free online tool that can check if a website was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very easy. Just enter the URL of the site into the URL field and click the button.
It will go and search through the site code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site was not built using WordPress, you will see a message like the one below …
To use this tool, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer
(Wappalyzer – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome))
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser and want to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great extension for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what software is installed on the sites you are visiting.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
Wappalyzer is also easy to install and very easy to use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will display in your browser allowing you to see which software is being used by the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Go here to visit the website:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, visit the site below:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, go here:
I hope that you have found the above information useful.
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